nostalgia, thirty.
❛ almost and nearly ❜
It wasn't a party without teenagers sitting in a circle and waiting to play whatever scandalous game they picked out.
Last year, they played spin the bottle. Yebin didn't join— not just because the game was unpredictable, but because she couldn't kiss anyone other than the boy she was in a relationship with at the time.
But that show was long over, and she found herself seated next to Jungwon as the game was being explained.
Park Jia clearly had too much to drink as she stood before the circle of students, her eyes half-closed as she held up a box of Pepero. "I think we all know where this is going."
"It's a park in the walk, guys." Jia droned on, causing Yebin to furrow her eyebrows confusedly. "I'll pick two couples to play first, okay? You just have to go closer and closer, until- boom! The couple with the shortest stick wins."
"Jaehyuk, Xiaohui, get up here," Jia did a waving motion with her hand, before pointing at two others. "Jungwon, Yebin, let's go!"
"We're not a couple-"
"Neither are they," Jia cut Jungwon off, referring to Jaehyuk and Xiaohui. She giggled. "I just picked random people!"
"Jia." Jungwon glared at her.
He then turned to Yebin with an apologetic expression. "We don't have to do this."
Yebin looked at all the people around, knowing she'd rather play than walk out in front of everybody. "It's okay. It's just a game, right?"
Her heart was going a hundred miles a minute. She didn't know what she was thinking. This is why parties are never a good idea.
Jungwon was given a Pepero stick and he put it to his mouth, biting one end. He clasped his hands behind him, holding back a smile when Yebin closed her eyes shut as she positioned herself at the other end of the stick.
"Set, go, ready!"
Jungwon tilted his head curiously at Jia, who'd been jumbling her words up for a good while now. Nevertheless, Jaehyuk and Xiaohui started, so they did too.
Yebin took the smallest bites into the cookie, inching closer at snail speed. Jungwon had to stifle his laughs as her eyes were still closed. After what seemed like an eternity later, her lips were inches away from his.
Jungwon glanced at Jaehyuk and Xiaohui, who were going to finish the entire stick any second now.
His eyes flickered to Yebin's lips, before looking back up at her closed eyes. He didn't like to lose.
With one swift motion, he leaned in and bit the rest of the stick, his lips barely brushing against hers.
Yebin's eyes shot wide open as she heard squeals from the crowd around them. She stared at Jungwon in shock, and the boy had his on the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly.
"We won-?" he told her.
"Yeah." Yebin let out a short, awkward laugh, suddenly feeling lightheaded.
"And we have our winners!" Jia made her way over to them excitedly, taking their hands in hers and raising them up towards the crowd. "Congratulations-"
The crowd gasped as Jia's eyes rolled back before closing, her body falling limp. Yebin and Jungwon, whose hands she still held, managed to catch her before she hit the ground, but Jia had passed out.
"Eonni!" Yebin exclaimed, gently trying to shake the girl's shoulders awake.
"She must have had too much alcohol," Jungwon said, concerned. "God, Jia."
"We have to let her lie down somewhere." Yebin looked down at the pale girl. "Can you please carry her?"
Jungwon scooped Jia up in his arms with little effort, and Jake rushed towards them from the crowd.
"I'll take you guys to the guest room."
Upstairs was quiet. The guest room was dim, and Jungwon and Yebin were seated next to each other on the floor, leaning against the bed Jia was now laying on.
Yebin hugged her knees, staring down blankly. Jungwon had his legs stretched out, looking straight at the wall. They could still hear the booming music from downstairs, but they couldn't even think about leaving Jia alone.
"Will she be okay?" Yebin asked.
"Yeah, it's not the first time." Jungwon sighed. "I try to tell her off but she's never been cautious with her alcohol consumption. I've been carrying her away from parties since she was fifteen."
"She's lucky to have someone like you." Yebin smiled. "You really care about her."
Jungwon shrugged. "We've been friends since we were six. But that's all we'll ever be."
Yebin knew there was more to that, and she hesitated before asking. "Did you ever want something more?"
"Maybe." Jungwon thought it over. "She was the first person to approach me in my Taekwondo class, and I don't think six-year old me ever got over how a girl one year older was walking home with me everyday."
Yebin laughed at that, finding the way he said it adorable.
"She was just so- cool? I don't really know what it was. She wore all these dark clothes and wild makeup," Jungwon said. "So I guess I did have this crush on her for a few years. It was completely one-sided, though."
"She never liked you back?" Yebin furrowed her eyebrows as Jungwon shook his head.
"She told me she loved me like a little brother. Said I was just confused about my feelings for her."
"Ouch." Yebin winced.
"It's fine, I'm over it." Jungwon laughed, before he faded into a small smile. "Besides, there's someone else I've been thinking of lately."
"Huh." Yebin hummed in response.
"It keeps me awake at night, you know," Jungwon told her. "How she manages to make me laugh with the worst jokes I've ever heard."
Yebin looked up at him as he continued.
"Maybe it's that ball she took to her head at that one soccer game."
She blinked at him as her heart rate quickened. "Are you talking about-?"
"Is there anyone else that comes to mind when we're talking about bad jokes?" Jungwon raised an eyebrow, but she still looked confused. Shaking his head, he reached over to ruffle her hair. "Of course it's you, idiot."
Yebin couldn't process what he was saying. "Sorry, I just- I don't get it."
Jungwon propped his elbow up on the bed, tilting his head to face her.
"The other night, I told you that- and then you told me- but then the other day you said- I'm so confused-"
Jungwon cut her off. "Yebin, I don't remember anything about that night."
"Oh." Yebin paused, before leaning her head back on the bed behind her. "That makes sense."
Jungwon did the same, leaning his head beside hers as they stared at the ceiling. "So, what did we talk about?"
Yebin hesitated. She didn't want to make it weird. That conversation would start up a whole series of awkward questions of 'what they'd be', and they were fine the way they were, right?
"You don't really need to know," Yebin answered. "We were pretty shit-faced anyway."
Jungwon laughed. "So, we're good?"
"Yeah." Yebin smiled up at the ceiling. "We're good."
Jungwon looked down at her hand, which was resting on the floor. He slowly reached out, their fingers touching slightly- until they heard loud claps from above them.
They both jumped away from each other, looking back at the girl who was still lying on the bed, but now half-conscious. She had been awake for a while, wearing an awed expression as she rolled over to face Jungwon and Yebin.
"Your guys' whole conversation?" Jia pointed a finger at them. "That's some K-drama shit right there."